The musings of Megan Paasch, and other stuff.

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Whew! 2018 has been a YEAR! A good year though, for me. For once. Finally. No, but really, this is the first New Year’s in a while where I haven’t been screaming at the Old Year that I hope the door hits it in the ass on the way out.

2018 was a Good Year.

I accomplished so many things that had been eluding me for a long time. I finished my rewrite–and then revision of the rewrite–of Silver Threads. This is the second book I have come this far with ever, and the last one was my first book, which I finished and polished via Pitch Wars in 2014. So yeah. That’s a four year gap. But I didn’t give up. I did it! And I’m putting the final touches on it and getting it ready to query this month. To quote Pinkie Pie, “I’m so nervoucited!”

I also dusted off Midas Touched, an old manuscript that I’d shelved for several years because I loved it, but didn’t know how to fix it. I replotted it, then fast-drafted it via NaNoWriMo. AND! This was the first NaNoWriMo I’ve won since 2012! (Which is not only the last time I won, but the only other time I’ve won, despite attempting it nearly every year since.) It’s a huge mess again, but it’s a mess that actually makes a bit of sense this time, and I’m confident that I can clean it up. I hope to start in on that once I’ve sent Silver Threads off into queryland. It will give me something else to focus on so I don’t sit around checking my emails every few minutes.

And–non-writing related–I lost forty-five pounds. Forty-five. I suspect some of that may have to do with weaning off of anxiety meds (another accomplishment this year! Got my anxiety in check!) but I started off by simply watching calories, then decided to try the Keto Diet yet again, this time coupled with intermittent fasting, and I actually stuck with it! Then, when I got close to where I wanted to be, I switched to Paleo, and now I’m off that as well and just being more mindful in general of what I eat and why I’m eating it. Am I actually hungry? Or am I stressed? Or just bored? I’m more aware of the answer now and can make better choices. And I no longer crave sugary things (with the exception of chocolate. Gotta have my chocolate.) And I feel so much better. I still have fibromyalgia flares, but they’re less frequent and less intense. And I still get tired easily, but I have more energy than I used to and I can push through the tireds more often than I could.

Another huge factor in what made 2018 so great was not an accomplishment of mine, but a fantastic decision my mom made. She bought a cabin in the woods! We’ve had several wonderful weekends there this year with my mom, my family, and my sister’s family all together under one roof. The kids are bonding and making great memories with their cousins, and we all have some time to catch up and relax, schedule free. It’s brought us all closer together, and I’m looking forward to going there often this coming year.

So that was my 2018. I can look back at it proudly, with no regrets, and I hope when January 1st, 2020 rolls around, I can say the same about 2019.

So what are my plans for 2019, anyway?

On the writing front, as mentioned above, I want to query the hell out of Silver Threads, and I want to get Midas Touched on or near the point where Silver Threads is now. I would also like to blog more. And I want to start the research phase for a super secret historical fiction project that scares the bajeebus out of me, but I’m doing it anyway. “Stay afraid, but do it anyway,” Carrie Fisher once said. “What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” So I’m doing it. Thanks, Carrie Fisher.

As for the rest…

I want to read more books and fewer social media feeds. I want to connect with friends in person more than online, if possible. I want to get back into baking bread, and I want to learn how to make macarons. I want to draw more, knit more, and get back to making music because I haven’t touched my ukulele in two years, and I haven’t picked up my dad’s old electric guitar at all even though I’d really like to learn to play it. I want to work toward fearlessness; I want to live authentically and worry less about what other people will think. I want to meditate more and commune with Spirit, walk barefoot in the grass, and fill my house with plants. This is what I wish to fill my 2019 with, and I can’t wait to get started.

I should probably start by telling you a little bit about who I am, if you don’t already know, but I’m too impatient for that. In all honesty, I’ve been delaying writing the first post of this new incarnation of my blog because I don’t want to write an introduction post. Does anyone ever actually read introduction posts? (Don’t answer that.) If you do want to know who I am though, I have provided a handy-dandy link over on the left, which is aptly titled “Who is Megan.” If you click on it, it will lead you to a selfie and a book-flap length blurb that will list some words describing “me,” but to be honest, this entire paragraph probably tells you more about me than that blurb ever will.

Another reason I’ve been delaying writing this first post is that I can’t decide on a focus for this blog. Everyone says you need to have a focus for your blog and you should stick to it. I’m sorry, but that’s just too much commitment. I have a lot of interests and a lot of things to say on a wide range of topics, and my main areas of interest change depending on what kind of mood I’m in, so no. (This probably also tells you a lot about me.) But just so you can get some kind of idea as to what you may expect to find when you visit this blog, here’s a list of things I think about a lot and will, in all likelihood, write about at some point in the future:

The Ways in Which I Am Attempting to Put Words on the Page

The Ways in Which I Am Avoiding Putting Words on the Page

My Children’s Plots to Destroy My Sanity, But Also How Cute They Are

My Cats’ Plots to Destroy My Sanity, But Also How Cute They Are

Are My Kids and Cats Working Together, or Do They Have Separate Agendas That Just Happen to Intersect?

Things I Love

Things That Drive Me Nuts

Ways in Which I Am Currently Trying To Better Myself That You Might Want to Try Too (Or Not. That’s Your Business, Not Mine. I Don’t Judge.)

History Stuff Because I Have a History Degree and Am Not Using It, So Here, Learn Some Historical Things. You’re Welcome.

How Horribly Disorganized I Am. I’ll Bet You Can Relate. Let’s Commiserate.

So. There you have it. Those are some of the things you can probably expect me to write about here in a horribly infrequent manner that I will feel guilty about, causing me to start off each post with sentences like “sorry I haven’t posted in a while” and “oops, I haven’t posted in six months, haha, my bad.” …Judging from past blogging attempts, anyway.

Oh! And I suppose I should explain the name of this blog. I have a secret, you see. I’m always angry. Wait . . . wait, that’s not it. Hold on. *thinks* Ohhhh right. I named it Rhymes with Smash, not because I am the Hulk, but because my name is Megan Paasch, and Paasch rhymes with the word “smash.” You would think it rhymes with “smosh,” but it does not. It rhymes with “smash.”